by Arantes
“Axil wait, do you smell that?” said Sonia as she grabbed his arm.
“Yes I do actually.”
As they got closer to Albedo’s room, the guards guarding his room in the hallway were slaughtered. There was blood on the walls.
“Albedo!” Sonia feared this was caused by him, unable to control his power again.
They walked into the room where he was staying; when they got there he was gone.
Axil put his hand around Sonia and said, “Do you think he might have done this?” It was hard for him to ask that question, especially to her.
Sonia looked down at the floor for a moment, “No… there’s no way he could cause this.” She heisted because she knew what he was capable of. “I just know it’s not him.” She sat down on the chair; too shock to comprehend what just happened. The chains in his bed were broken in half. The window was broken; sheets in the bed were ripped.
Axil examined the room; the blood trails were still fresh. There were even footsteps of blood on the floor. One of us should go tell the King so the royal guards can act quickly. Axil heard a loud noise now. What in the world was that? He looked outside of the window to see Albedo climbing to the top of the castle. “Let’s go, I see him!” with no hesitation both jumped out the window and made their way to the roof.
They got to the roof to find Albedo staring at the moon. They could see blood dripping from his clothes. Jarvis’ seal had stopped him from transforming, but he still had that killer-lust.
“Careful Axil,” said Sonia, “His power might be gone, but he’s still a threat.”
Axil approached him, being as careful as he could be. He had seen Albedo like this only once, facing Michael. Unresponsive and only knew blood. “Albedo it’s me, don’t you recognize me? I’m your friend,” pleaded Axil.
“Friend…” quietly said Albedo. Albedo looked at him and attacks one of his closest friends.
Axil blocked and delivered a blow to his chest. With Jarvis’ seal, Albedo was weaker.
“Careful Axil, please don’t hurt him!” said Sonia. “Albedo that’s enough, just stop!” she said unable to look him in his eyes.
Albedo continued on attacking Axil, all Axil could do was block him, not wanting to hurt his friend. “Sonia, I need you to be strong for him, so come on!” Catching a wild animal was going to be hard. Axil needed Sonia to snap out of it and help him.
Sonia got herself together at last and threw her chains around Albedo. He was still strong. “We have to be careful how we make our move; we don’t want to hurt him,” said a concerned Sonia.
Yeah, if he doesn’t hurt us! Thought Axil.
They continued to try and bring him to his knees. After a few seconds of struggle Axil looked around to see that they had company. He saw men with masks on their face surrounding the roof. No way, why are the Black Knights here? I would think a situation like this would be handled by the Royal Guards.
“That will be enough, I’ll take it from here.”
Axil looked back the King was there.
“Albedo, I’m placing you under arrest for the murder of my men,” said the King.
Two of the Black Knights stood in front of Sonia and Axil, warning them not to move. They told Sonia to remove her chains as they threw their own chains around Albedo’s body. His body was wrapped, unable to move. Albedo struggled but was too weak to overpower them all.
“Placing him under arrest? It wasn’t him… I just know it’s not him.”
“Forgive me Sonia, but he’s no longer the Albedo you knew,” said the King. Albedo had changed from a warrior to a King of Awakening.
Axil walked closer to Sonia and held her, “What are you going to do to him?”
The King responded, “Right now I’m considering three options, with the seal in his body; I can send him to the Furness. Second I can lock him up here in the castle, down in the dungeon. Third… I can kill him myself and end it all before it start.”
Sonia and Axil could not believe their ears, would he really kill Albedo? They waited and finally the King said, “Lock him up in the dungeon! I want electric chains around him at all time. Any attempts to escape will release an electric shock to his body!”
“It’s not fair, he’s done nothing. It wasn’t him, I think someone else is responsible for this!” cried Sonia. Its times like this she wishes she had Angelione, his ability would have been helpful.
“I’m sorry, Sonia, I truly am. But there’s no doubt that it was him, you can either accept it or you don’t.” The King looked different; he had an angry and sad look on his face. He ordered the Black Knights to take Albedo at once to the dungeon. He looked at the two, “Leave this to me, and don’t interfere.” He left and The Black Knights took Albedo with them.
At that moment Axil realized why the King had used the Black Knights instead of the royal guards. The Black Knights were mysterious; their identities are not even known by each other, only by the King and Viper. They are forbidden to take off their masks. They swore an oath of secrecy, never to reveal information, not even to each other. Everything was dealt by Viper, and he would report to the King. So that’s why he brought the Black Knights instead, to keep things quiet. If news of this magnitude reached the world, then King Victor would have to explain himself to the other High Kings. By hiding Albedo, he took a big risk. They would see this as treason, and wage war against him. Axil was so lost in thought that he forgot Sonia was crying in his arms. “He didn’t do anything Sonia,” said Axil, “Someone else is behind it. I don’t believe he did it.”
She was now losing the Albedo she loved. He was now an empty vessel, only a corpse who understood killing. She got up and wiped the tears off her face. “If Victor won’t do anything, then we have to get to the bottom of it by ourselves.”
“Sonia you know if we get caught, I can only imagine what the King will do to us,” said Axil.
She looked him in the eyes, “Look Axil, you can either come with me or not, but either way I’m going.”
Axil looked back into her eyes and saw she was really adamant about going, he took a big breath and said he would help.
Sonia and Axil sneaked inside the dungeon, which was easier than Axil had anticipated. Sonia of course knew all the secret passages of this castle. From the garden of the castle, there was a secret passage by the tree. They entered a dark long narrow path, which they ended up at one of the empty cells in the dungeon. It was a good thing that it was nighttime, also that the King had not run electricity down here. The darkness would conceal their presence. From the cell they could see lines of candles down and the hallway, each side had steel cells. A few cells down she could faintly see Albedo’s cell. She would know that this was the one he was going to be in; it was the biggest and one of the few ones with electric chains. Just hang on Albedo. The cell was dark and on the right side was a bench, a bed to the left.
Axil sat on the bench looking as apprehensive as ever. It wasn’t such a good idea to disobey the King, he could get kicked out and he would lose his chance of becoming a Black Reaper. “Again, is this a good idea? If the king finds out, you know what he will do.”
Sonia did not care what would happen to her, getting Albedo out and clearing his name was all she cared about, nothing else mattered. She waited quietly inside the cell.
“Tell me again how we’re going to catch this ‘killer’?”
Sonia sat down next to him, she had brought a bag of sweets with her, and it always did make her feel better. “Ok it’s like this, whoever tried to frame Albedo is not done, so…” she was eating while talking, each bite she took and every time her hand went inside the bag Axil’s eyes would follow. “What? Am I eating with my mouth open too much?”
“No, I was hoping you would share that with me. It’s boring in here, and how long do we have to be here?”
“It’s call a stakeout, and you starting to sound like Dante, hasn’t Angelione taught you about that?” asked Sonia.
“Well no, have you taught Albedo about it?”
“So you were paying attention,” said Axil sarcastically.
“Anyway Axil, if we wait here then the person is sure to come back.”
“If you say so,” he crossed his arms, “I guess what you say does kind of make sense, because if I were a criminal I would probably come back to finish the job too. By the scene at his room, it looked as if someone wanted him dead.” Axil looked around the cell, and wondered if this place could really keep a Pureblood locked up in this place. The metal was nothing but steel, a mere vampire could break that. He asked Sonia and she explained to him that this place used to be used when Jarvis put his seal on someone, then they were sent here with chains that bound them to the electric wall.
A few minutes passed by and Axil was still talking, she waved her hand for him to be quiet. This was a stakeout and talking was forbidden, she said. It was weird because Axil hardly talked; it wasn’t till he met Albedo that he started having conversation with people. Almost two hours passed by and Sonia could hear footsteps, she woke up Axil quickly and quietly, who had fallen asleep, and told him to hide. They hurried under the bed as not to be spotted. From under the bed they could see a man walking in front of their cell. Sonia glared at him for a second. The man was wearing a black cloak with the hood over his head, making it hard to see his face in this dark hallway.
“C’mon, let’s move closer and quietly,” she whispered to Axil.
They quietly opened the cell, slowly moving behind the man with the black cloak. There were large pillars on each side of hallway, good; they could use them to hide. A few feet from the man were two guards, guarding the hallway. The man with the black cloak approached them.
“Hey wait, you can’t be here,” said one of the guards. The man with the black cloak waved a piece of paper; the guards nodded their heads and let him through.
Axil looked at Sonia in bafflement, “Must be some kind of permission slip, I don’t know,” she whispered quietly.
She gave him a signal saying we have to get closer. The man with the cloak continued to get closer to Albedo.
“How are we going to pass the guard?” Already this mission was getting out of hand.
“Easy, just follow my lead,” she said with a deviant smile.
Axil followed her from the opposite side now, on the other side behind the pillar. One guard was on the left and one on the right. Axil was heading towards the one on the right, while Sonia headed for the one on the left. He looked at her and her mouth read, “Do as I do.” She quickly but very diligently ran towards the guard in front of her, Axil followed her movements. His feet made small sounds; hers however was silent as a mouse. This was a skill he was going to have to work on. The way she moved her feet, Axil wondered if she was an assassin. Only the Black Knights moved as quiet as she did. She has been here much longer than he has, so maybe she had trained with Viper. Sonia came behind the guard and her right hand caught the back of his neck. The guard on his right saw a glimpse of what happened; before he could reach he felt a hand on the back of his neck from Axil. They were so quiet that the man with the black cloak heard nothing.
The man with the black cloak had reached Albedo’s cell, located on the left. When he moved his body to face Albedo’s cell, he would be able to see them. Sonia hurriedly gave Axil a signal, to hide themselves and the guards behind the pillars. Axil and Sonia took the sleeping guards and hid themselves. Sonia noticed the permission slip the man with the black cloak had given the guard was in his pocket; she took it and slipped it under her sleeve. She looked to see the man wasn’t even concerned as he made his way inside Albedo’s cell. She looked at Axil and said, “We have to move, now.”
As they got closer, she quickly picked up the pace, hoping to catch the killer in time. This situation gave her a bad vibe. As they got to Albedo’s cell, she saw a light emitting from inside his cell. They made it to the cell to find a barrier of red light.
“A barrier!” There’s only one Pureblood she knew who could create a barrier “Alan!” shouted Sonia.
He turned around with a smile upon his face.
“It was you, the one who killed the guards?”
Albedo was in front of him, chained to the wall. These chains were somehow connected to the big generator that powered up the kingdom; any attempts of escaping will release a massive electric shock.
“I was hoping King Victor would kill him when he found out Albedo killed his men,” said Alan.
“Except it was you,” said Axil. He had been the one who killed the guards.
“Our King is weak. We’ve been given a chance to change the outcome of the upcoming battle but he chose to ignore it. Do you think what happened seventy years ago was an accident?” asked Alvin.
“So are you saying that you were the one who released them?” asked Sonia.
Alan had an evil smile. “No, if it was me I would have killed them. All I want is revenge for my brother; his death will save many lives.”
“So, what are you going to do now?” It was obvious what Alan’s plan was, he wanted Albedo dead. Axil thought if he kept Alan talking he might find a way to break the barrier somehow.
Alan raised his hands towards Albedo and said, “I’m going to kill him!”
Axil started hitting the barrier as hard as he could, but it was too powerful for him to even budge. He continued, but as strong as his fist might be, it made no dent. Sonia used her fire, but the fire just spread around the barrier.
“Axil, we have to find a way to get in there!” she was determined to find a way inside.
Alan began to laugh, and hit Albedo with his fist. “This is for my brother!” he hit Albedo again and again. Albedo started to bleed.
As Axil continued to try and break the barrier with his fist, he could hear a footsteps getting closer to them.
“Jarvis!” said Sonia.
Jarvis and the King appeared.
“Alvin, that’s enough!” shouted the king.
No words were getting through to him; vengeance was all he could think of.
The King looked at Sonia, “I feared this might happen, that’s why I told you to leave it alone.”
“You knew it was him?” asked a surprisingly Sonia.
“I had an idea or so. I’m not the King for nothing you know? I had Jarvis sensing his every move after the incident in the medical room. Just like I’ve been sensing you and Axil sneaking down here taking out two of my guards,” replied King Victor.
Axil looked astonished. But of course he had to know somehow, he did have the Elder. All he had to do was turned it on and track their moves.
“Hey young lad!” said Jarvis to Axil. “Keep on hitting the barrier in one spot, we can break it.” He looked at Alan now. “Alan, if you need to take revenge on anyone, it should be me; I was the one who told your brother to go back, it’s me you should come after!”
Along with King Victor, Axil strikes simultaneously at the barrier. With their strength combined, a crack appeared in the barrier.
Alan took the knife he had in his back pocket. As he was getting ready to stab Albedo in the heart, he heard Sonia scream for him to stop. He walked closer to Albedo, and Albedo looked up with a look in his eyes. A look that would make any man tremble, a look only Aleister would give. Fear and terror were in his eyes, it was a look that told him he was going to die by his hand. This was the same look he gave the bear that trembled to him, the same look Aleister gave Sonia from their first encounter. “Get away from him or I’ll kill you,” said Albedo. But his voice sounded different, for a quick second Alan could have sworn that he saw Albedo’s eyes change, blue and red. Alan felt something
inside of him he hadn’t felt for a long time, terror. The fear froze his body, move damn it, body move! He felt as if his body was paralyzed. The next noise that he heard was his barrier being destroyed.
Axil ran into Alan. With his face he hit the man like he had never hit anyone before. Alan’s body flew to the other side of the room, hitting the wall.
“Sonia, wait!” The King quickly turned the electric chains off before Sonia rushed to Albedo.
She looked in his eyes and found they were empty. It’s as if he was nothing but an empty shell.
“Albedo look at me, it’s me Sonia!”
Albedo did not respond.
“No get away from him, he’s too dangerous.” Jarvis was concerned he had created a monster, pushing Albedo’s emotions to the edge of its limit. “All we can do is hope the boy can find his way back to us.”
“Master Jarvis and the rest of you, we must leave. I’m turning the electric shock back on. I need time to think of what to do,” said the King.
Axil had to fight with Sonia to get her to leave. The King ordered Axil to lock Alan away, on the cell opposite side from Albedo’s. Axil felt a pride being giving direct orders by the King. Soon after, the guards had been increased. The King was taking precautions this time.
***
In the morning that followed, just after Alan tried to kill Albedo, the King sat on his throne. His adviser Dory was inside with him.
“I don’t know what to do old friend. Before all this happened, I was fixed on killing him. But when it comes down to doing it, I couldn’t.”
“If I may say, I think you should inform Dragan and Cecelia. They’re your friends and Albedo’s parents.”
The King looked up, “I suppose you’re right. Send news to them.”
There was a knocking on the throne room; the guard told him Miss Sonia was here to see him.
Sonia walked in with a fierce look in her eyes. “Victor!” she called to him, no longer calling him King. “Why is he still chained to a wall? Has he not been proven innocent?”
